Syrian-American peddler Ferris Skaff with a customer in rural North Dakota, 1910.

Embroidered Doily1908-11

Arab-American memorabiliaThis fabric and cotton yarn doily was made by Lebanese-born Nazha Haney, whose family immigrated to Spring Valley, IL, in 1908. Like the vast majority of early Arab immigrants, the men first worked as peddlers. In such communities, women often produced items like this doily for the menfolk to sell. Because it was the first piece she made when she was learning to embroider and crochet, Haney held onto this doily all her life before--at age 88--donating it to the Smithsonian in 1980.